SNP publishes its 2007 pledges to show 'we have delivered'

Published on Friday 15 April 2011 18:51

THE SNP has published the election manifesto pledges from 2007 the party claims it has delivered during its four years in power at Holyrood.

More than a month after Alex Salmond boasted on TV that the party had kept 84 out of 94 pledges, the SNP has released a document setting out what it says were the commitments it has honoured.

Mr Salmond made the claim a central theme of his campaign but until now the SNP has refused to say which pledges had been honoured and which not.

The First Minister referenced the promises from the 2007-11 parliament during the SNP's party election broadcast, which was on the theme of "what has the Scottish Government ever done for us?"

A document released by the SNP yesterday, one day after the party's 2011 election manifesto launch, said the 84 promises it had honoured "range from freezing the Council Tax, delivering 1,000 more police officers, introducing the Small Business Bonus, and restoring free education, to pledges such as meeting the cancer waiting times target."

The SNP said the government's failure to deliver on flagship policies such as a referendum on independence and scrapping the Edinburgh trams, was due to the measures being "blocked" by opposition parties.

Other shelved manifesto commitments such as a pledge to reduce class sizes to 18, were described as "works in progress"

Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray said the SNP's list of kept promises did not stand scrutiny.

He said: "This is weak, weak, weak. It is pretty desperate stuff.

"The document is riddled with errors and they seem to have forgotten what they actually promised last time."

SNP deputy leader and health secretary Nicola Sturgeon admitted that "changed economic circumstances and spending cuts from Westminster" had meant the SNP had been forced to deliver some policies "in a different way".

She said: "This is a key part of communicating our positive record, team and vision for Scotland. It details a record of achievement."

Murdo Fraser, Scottish Conservative Deputy Leader, said: "On none of these pledges have they come even close. The SNP's record is a catalogue of broken promises."

Lib Dem campaign chair George Lyon said: "The Scottish public won't trust the SNP again. Voters want a party who have real solutions for creating jobs, keeping services local and restoring excellence to education."

• Leader of the Scottish Greens Patrick Harvey will be taking part in a live webchat on scotsman.com on Monday, April 18 at 12pm.

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